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PRINTING - Any Horror Stories?

9K views 52 replies 38 participants last post by  nightsonge 
#1 ·
There is soooooo much talk about "printing". Has anyone ever been stopped or talked to about printing?

Just curious to hear your experiences as I get ready to start carrying. CHL is IN THE MAIL! Literally!!! :danceban:
 
#3 ·
Yep. I swear... Like half the time I cancel a print job it just sits in the queue holding up the rest of the jobs. It's doesnt matter how many times I try to cancel it or restart it. You would think that in 2013 someone would figure out how to write a damn print driver that actually works.
 
#4 ·
A gun printing could be explained as any number of things. Usually it's just a bulge or peak in some clothing. Many things could cause this. If anyone calls you on it, tell them it's your cell phone. Tell them it's your wallet. Tell them it's your keys. Heck, tell them it's your colostomy bag to shut them up real quick.

To be honest, the only people that may see a genuine "print" are fellow concealed carriers and they're unlikely to confront you about it. 99% of people are too busy looking at their phone or otherwise generally being oblivious to the world around them to notice any "printing". If the lard-arsed "disabled" welfare junkies at Wal-Mart can't see a shopping cart coming at them what makes you think they'll notice your firearm?
 
#5 ·
The ink cartridges always dry up in my printer.

Worrying about your weapon printing through your shirt makes you sound a bit paranoid. Very very few people would even notice. Cops mostly. So as long as you are legal whats the worry.
 
#9 ·
I have to admit... I do worry about it. Not like constantly or anything but I do still usually check the mirror before I leave the house. The only thing worse than getting mwag'd os getting bmwag'd
 
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#7 ·
The Academy Award for Printing:

On my way to the range but hungry, I got out of my car with a full-size polished stainless steel 1911 OWB under a leather vest, I retrieved my paper from the car, went into coffee bistro and was ordering when a LEO came in who was very friendly, knew the cashier and had met me and we spoke incidentally someplace in the same neighborhood few weeks back. Gave me big smile. Bistro was crowded. He then oddly got VERY close and slightly behind and to my side and then said quietly: "You have a permit for that?" I instantly knew gun had printed and said yes. "Can I see the permit?" he said again quietly. My wallet already in my hands to pay for food ordered and on top of a high counter, I started to look thru it.

He got even closer and just above whisper but very intently said "DON'T turn to your side. I don't want a scene". "No, I won't", I said. Permit out I passed it back to him, he read it quick and the tension broke. "Printing, right?" I asked. "PRINTING!" he laughed. "You just put on a show for the whole neighborhood! You better invest in a longer vest!" We all three, the cashier too, laughed.

Turned out, just as the cop was driving by, when I reached back in car to get my paper the vest settled BEHIND the gun. So I waked with a full size completely exposed cocked and locked 1911 shining like a mirror in the sun right into a crowded public place and directly to the cashier. LEO said " I knew I met you and you certainly don't look like the type who'd hold up a store (I'm older with white hair) and most armed robbers don't just walk in with their gun showing like a billboard, but you DID walk in fast and directly to the cashier, so...." Said he had slammed his brakes on when he saw the shining very large cocked gun, And walked in right behind me.

No charges, guy had a real funny sense of humor and was so quiet the way he checked me out he caused no panic in the crowded place, I doubt anyone knew what was happening. Laughed again and went off on his duties.

I NEVER wore that vest over such a big gun again, I can tell you that! And THAT was a very reasonable LEO who didn't have to be.
 
#32 ·
...now THERE'S a fine example of the REAL police...did the job well, completely controlled the situation but didn't grandstand or gloryhog...showed the citizen respect and honor...makes this old blue dog proud!!!
On my way to the range but hungry, I got out of my car with a full-size polished stainless steel 1911 OWB under a leather vest, I retrieved my paper from the car, went into coffee bistro and was ordering when a LEO came in who was very friendly, knew the cashier and had met me and we spoke incidentally someplace in the same neighborhood few weeks back. Gave me big smile. Bistro was crowded. He then oddly got VERY close and slightly behind and to my side and then said quietly: "You have a permit for that?" I instantly knew gun had printed and said yes. "Can I see the permit?" he said again quietly. My wallet already in my hands to pay for food ordered and on top of a high counter, I started to look thru it.

He got even closer and just above whisper but very intently said "DON'T turn to your side. I don't want a scene". "No, I won't", I said. Permit out I passed it back to him, he read it quick and the tension broke. "Printing, right?" I asked. "PRINTING!" he laughed. "You just put on a show for the whole neighborhood! You better invest in a longer vest!" We all three, the cashier too, laughed.

Turned out, just as the cop was driving by, when I reached back in car to get my paper the vest settled BEHIND the gun. So I waked with a full size completely exposed cocked and locked 1911 shining like a mirror in the sun right into a crowded public place and directly to the cashier. LEO said " I knew I met you and you certainly don't look like the type who'd hold up a store (I'm older with white hair) and most armed robbers don't just walk in with their gun showing like a billboard, but you DID walk in fast and directly to the cashier, so...." Said he had slammed his brakes on when he saw the shining very large cocked gun, And walked in right behind me.

No charges, guy had a real funny sense of humor and was so quiet the way he checked me out he caused no panic in the crowded place, I doubt anyone knew what was happening. Laughed again and went off on his duties.

I NEVER wore that vest over such a big gun again, I can tell you that! And THAT was a very reasonable LEO who didn't have to be.
 
#13 ·
Off the top of my head, I can't recall any CC printing stories that went bad.

But there are plenty of reported stories out there about MWAG calls, both for CC and OC. One ugly OC incident I do recall is from Ohio, when Dan Sayers was taken down at gunpoint following a fearful ninny calling in a report of a "man with a gun." You can find plenty of details on Google or Youtube.

Oregon is also an OC state, but there are plenty of incidents in the past several years where carriers have been roughly handled.

Still, things largely seem to be quieting down. During the transition years, LEO's in many states seemed to go off a bit half-cocked whenever someone with a gun was reported. Seems to be much less of that sort of thing, these days.
 
#14 ·
OC is legal in Massachusetts but typically discouraged. Quite frankly, I've never seen it. I have seen others print; however, and occasionally have given them that look that says..."pretty obvious you're carrying." Because CCW Permits (Class a LTC in Massachusetts) are at the discretion of the local police chief in the town you reside, most people do not want to provoke a revocation of license by OC'ing, even though it is legal (technically).
 
#15 ·
I have a horror story. I walked past a mirror while carrying once & looked closely at my reflection. I could tell on very careful observation that there might have been a gun bulging a bit. I got so scared that I ran around in circles yelling "gun!"
 
#16 ·
The convenience store I stop by for coffee in the morning and the weekends is regularly frequented by LEO's. (Big selection of fresh coffee and donuts :image035: ) A couple of weekends ago I was in for morning coffee, while I was pouring coffee in my cup one of the LEO's walked up and addressed me by name, I know quite a few of them by now. Once he got my attention he slowly reached out and pulled my shirt back over my sidearm to conceal it.

We have had numerous discussions in the past concerning concealing and he knows that I carry 100% of the time. Nothing was said when he was finished, he just refilled his coffee and went to his vehicle.
 
#17 ·
My worst printing experience was a laser jet spitting out 50 pages of one-lined garble.

My very first carry gun was a G23, and I carried it IWB at 4 o'clock. I was coming back from a late day at my summer internship, and stopped by Taco Bell. (Yeah, I know. I'll have a nice thread about Taco Bell in the Scenarios sub-forum here in a minute.) I didn't have my concealment clothing figured out quite right yet, and while gorging myself on the mystery meat, my shirt eventually rode up, revealing the black Tuppergun in all its glory. And then I looked in the glass window and saw the reflection of a guy sitting not too far away, and he was staring at it. He kept on eating, but he kept staring at it. I think my face got hotter than a tub full of habanero sauce.
 
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#18 ·
I have Hewlett Packard Officejet 6500A Plus but no one has ever stopped me to talk about it.

It also scans and copies. I can also send and receive faxes but haven't done that in years. Overall, I'm pleased with it.
 
#20 ·
Well since OC is not only legal but well accepted here on Colorado's western slope, I rarely "cover-up" at all. The only reason I am CCing right now is it has been the coldest JAN on record, only above freezing twice and 10 straight days of record setting lows, up to -14. An accidental "display" would attract about as much attention as a bird flying by.
 
#21 ·
My definition of "printing" is anytime there is a clear outline of a firearm making it readily apparent and obvious to anyone that what you are seeing is a firearm.

Anything else, is what is considered to be a protruding bulge. Something which shows a vague dimensional outline of some non-discript item which could literally be anything.

In my experience, unless you are wearing a see though, tissue thin garment, printing of the firearm is a pretty rare occurrence. "Printing" seems to be a term which is used inappropriately by most gun owners.

What almost everyone who carries a gun wants to know is, "What do I do about that bulge on the side of my hip?" And the standard answer is... Nothing!

Almost every firearm is going to have a visible bulge at any given moment. What you will learn through experience, as everyone else does, is that almost no one is going to see it. People just don't go around staring at people, and scrutinizing every lump under someone's clothing. And of the few which may notice something, even less will actually say something about it. And in those cases (unless you're wearing a shirt made out of tissue paper, and are clearly "printing"), that bulge is anything you tell them it is.

On many occasions, I've left home with what my subconscious has told me was a horrible, visible bulge, and spent all day long out among the sheep, and not one single person has ever noticed it, or even mentioned it. The only time a person has ever mentioned a bulge on my side, I wasn't even carrying a gun. It was a Cannon Sure Shot digital camera carried in a belt case.

The simple answer is, "Keep your gun covered and don't worry about it. And if inquiring minds want to know... It's going to be anything you tell them it is."
 
#22 ·
I took a friend of mine on an hour-long motorcycle ride one time, and was CCing a full-size FNX-9 in an OWB holster under my shirt and jacket. Printing big time without the jacket. When we got back I asked her, purely out curiosity, if she knew I had a pistol. She had her arm on it for about an hour and never had a clue. Her response was, "Cool! Can I see it?"
 
#24 ·
Does having the USB cable pull out in the middle of a 74 page document count?

No horror stories here, but then VA is an OC friendly carry state so printing is a non-issue.
 
#27 ·
You have nothing to fear (about printing) except fear (of printing) itself. But if you print, someone will try to take your gun or target you to shoot first!:danceban:
 
#33 ·
...not from Texas there's not...'cause it's not illegal here...

"PC §46.035. UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUN BY LICENSE HOLDER. (a) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder carries a handgun on or about the license holder's person under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, and intentionally fails to conceal the handgun."
 
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